About the time I got to Houston, I found a supermarket that put all of its unsold fried chicken on sale at 10 p.m. - 10 cents apiece, including breasts.

I ate a lot of fried chicken the next few weeks. What a city! They sell chicken for 10 cents!

Then I wrote about it. Turns out, not very smart.

That night there was a crowd milling around the deli counter, checking their watches, waiting for the chicken ball to drop at 10 p.m. The next day, the supermarket killed the late-night leftover-chicken sale.

I ruined it for everybody, especially me. I'm still kicking myself over that.

That was just one rogue supermarket.

Here are some deals from multinational companies that even I can't wreck.

The express lane

Have you bought anything from aliexpress.com yet? This is the Chinese version of amazon.com … its parent company, AliBaba, hit the New York Stock Exchange in September. It's huge. And everything is priced rock bottom, ridiculously cheap. A lot of the items, especially designer clothes, appear to be counterfeit knockoffs, so use your noggin. Your package may not arrive for a few weeks, but if you buy wisely (and inexpensively), it's worth the wait.

For years, friends made fun of my iPhone case. It was a nasty-looking purple gel thing that, frankly, had a disgusting odor to it. I poured cologne, vinegar, Right Guard, baking soda and ginger ale on it. Nothing could kill that smell.

When I clicked on aliexpress, I saw hundreds of sites for phone cases. I found a hard phone case with a really fun picture of the Beatles from "A Hard Day's Night." I sort of like that group from England.

I bought it - 99 cents, no tax, free shipping. I even did an online chat with the shop salesman to make sure it was the right case for my phone.

One buck! The cheapest I found for the same case here - $5 to $20, plus $5.49 shipping.

I don't know how aliexpress.com can deliver a phone case, in the mail, tax-free, to my door for 99 cents. The postage alone is more than that. And I'm not asking.

As Hyman Roth said in "Godfather II" … "this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!" Except with aliexpress.com, it has everything to do with who gives the order and business.

Hot dog, that's good chicken

I go to Costco practically every Saturday morning, and it's not for 24-roll packs of paper towels. I have enough Brawny to last me until the year 2525 (great song by Zager and Evans).

Everybody knows about the Hot Dog and Soda combo for $1.50. The dogs are quarter-pounders, and the sodas are in 20-ounce cups. Costco sold 112 million combos last year. Costco has about 600 stores. You crunch the numbers.

Last month, I put a $1.50 down payment on a hot dog at a 24-screen multiplex.

But the real best buy is the rotisserie chicken for $4.99. Costco chickens are 3 pounds-plus, and they're cooked just right, so they're juicy and tender. Costco sold 69 million rotisserie chickens last year.

They're nothing like a shriveled $6.99 supermarket chicken that's cooked to death and you sprain your jaw trying to chew the white meat.

Turkish delight

Here's the big one. I had a few days off last month.

Ciao, Roma.

I'm signed up with TripAdvisor's service that emails me whenever there's a price drop in airfare to one of my favorite cities.

How's Houston to Rome, $560 round trip, on Turkish Airlines?

You know me, I'm an airfare-bargain hunter. I look hard. And I'm flexible.

The daily flight from Houston to Istanbul leaves at 8:30 p.m., so you can get a full day's work in, then go to the airport. Security lines are shorter then. Once you land about 4 p.m., you can either spend the night in Istanbul, a fascinating city, or connect to practically anywhere in Europe.

Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi do commercials for Turkish Airlines. They're both scoring machines, so you know it's a top airline.

In the past month, Turkish Airlines has offered round-trip Houston-Stockholm for $530 and Houston-Nice, France, for $653. Those are two of the cities on my TripAdvisor watch.

Most important … jump on the bargains as soon as you get the email. Tickets move fast.

Turkish Airlines isn't a cut-rate, no-frills cattle car. Passengers in all classes have access to movies, sports and live TV, and there's a USB port at each seat. The restrooms are immaculate. An onboard chef, wearing a Chef Boyardee floppy hat, prepares the meals. Nice touch.

All things being equal - and they're not, Turkish Airlines gives me Turkish Delight candy when I get on the plane - why would I spend $1,300 to fly to Rome on another carrier?

I spent the savings on pizza and pasta.

Tighty whitey (brief)

KPRC Channel 2's farewell weatherman Anthony Yanez will read an excerpt from his new kiddie book, "A Wild Ride on the Water Cycle," at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Children's Museum of Houston, 1500 Binz in the Museum District. Admission is $9 for the whole day, including all museum attractions. Yanez also will deliver his early forecast for Christmas Eve. Fingers crossed for smooth flying weather, round trip North Pole-Houston. Yanez is leaving Channel 2 next month to do the afternoon weather on KNBC, the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles.